NEW DELHI: In its first mission of 2021, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) will launch Brazilian satellite Amazonia-1 as main payload and 20 other satellites from Sriharikota at 10.23 am on February 28. The launch of PSLV-C51 is the first dedicated commercial mission of NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL), a PSU under the Department of Space.
The 20 co-passenger satellites include one nano satellite (INS-2TD) from Isro, four commercial satellites booked via recently-formed space facilitator Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) and 15 satellites commercially arranged by NSIL itself.
The four satellites being launched via IN-SPACe are three UNITYsats from a consortium of three Indian academic institutes and one Satish Dhawan satellite from startup Space Kidz India. Space Kidz India said Satish Dhawan satellite, named after former Isro chairman Satish Dhawan, is aimed at studying space radiation and magnetosphere. This will be their second satellite
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Ricardo Galvão, a physicist who lost his position as director of a Brazilian science agency after defending its data on deforestation in the Amazon rainforest, will receive the 2021 Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The annual AAAS Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award honors scientists who have demonstrated scientific freedom and/or responsibility in particularly challenging circumstances, sometimes at risk to their professional or physical safety. When Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro attacked the legitimacy of a report highlighting a dramatic increase in Amazon deforestation, Galvão stood behind the figures, a decision that cost him his job.
Isro chairman K Sivan has called the upcoming PSLV launch, dedicated to private satellites, “as part of space reforms", which are aimed at increasing participation of private companies in the space sector.
Sale of Finnish microsatellite to Brazil raises criticism
A Brazilian researcher said the tech would be used for greenwashing and a Finnish expert called the deal unethical.
ICEYE workers testing ICEYE SAR microsatellite.
Image: ICEYE
Finnish satellite tech firm ICEYE has sold a microsatellite to Brazil, but the deal has received criticism from experts in the South American country and Finland.
Brazil s Air Force plans to use the microsatellite to monitor and prevent deforestation across the Amazon rainforest.
However, some Brazilian researchers have claimed the acquisition was merely a form of greenwashing and that the government s real intent is to hide the actual deforestation taking place.